The Color of Love
by alotmoreofmagic
Summary: Edward was born into a family of slave owners. Bella was a slave. In the age they lived can love surmount impossible obstacles like race, color and slavery ? One of the Age of Edward 2010 Judges Winners


**Age of Edward 2010 Contest**

**Pen name: alotmoreofmagic**

**Title: The Color of Love**

**Type of Edward: Slave Master**

**A/N - PLEASE READ**

**This story is set against the backdrop of slavery in America, for historical accuracy words words like negro are used. I want to emphatically state I do not use or condone use of such words in my private life.**

**Disclaimer: The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer. **

**This is a work of original fiction copyrighted to me. **

**I know why the caged bird sings**

**Dr. Maya Angelou (1969)**

_A free bird leaps on the back of the wind_

_and floats downstream till the current ends_

_and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky._

_But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage_

_can seldom see through his bars of rage_

_his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing._

_The caged bird sings with a fearful trill_

_of things unknown but longed for still_

_and his tune is heard on the distant hill_

_for the caged bird sings of freedom._

_The free bird thinks of another breeze_

_and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees_

_and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own._

_But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams_

_his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream_

_his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing._

_The caged bird sings with a fearful trill_

_of things unknown but longed for still_

_and his tune is heard on the distant hill_

_for the caged bird sings of freedom._

**How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43 – Sonnets from the Portuguese) **

**by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1845)**

_How do I love thee? Let me count the ways._

_I love thee to the depth and breadth and height_

_My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight_

_For the ends of being and ideal grace._

_I love thee to the level of every day's_

_Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light._

_I love thee freely, as men strive for right._

_I love thee purely, as they turn from praise._

_I love thee with the passion put to use_

_In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith._

_I love thee with a love I seemed to lose_

_With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,_

_Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,_

_I shall but love thee better after death._

**The Color of Love**

**StoneAcre Plantation**

**Virginia 1790**

It was an unusually hot summer afternoon. Inside the huge house, weary from the heat and the child each carried within her, two women were lying on a bed in an upstairs room reminiscing and laughing. A little Negro house slave of sixteen looked in upon her mistress to see if she needed anything before going down to help with the rest of the evening meal prep. The girl had been given to her mistress, Esme Cullen, by her father on the occasion of the Esme's marriage to Dr. Carlisle Cullen five years ago. The slave was a striking girl with beautiful ebony skin, dark, curly hair, big beautiful eyes, luscious lips, generous breasts and a beautiful bottom that even her plain clothes could not hide. Though the young girl had to leave her family and was a slave, she was still quite content. Her master and mistress did not beat her. She loved looking after the little master and could not wait for the mistress to give birth to another pretty baby for her to look after and love. As she skipped along the corridor with a song in her heart and a smile on her lips, she hoped that she could also jump the broom some day with the one of the many young men on the plantation that looked at her with admiration and have her own babies to love.

Suddenly her small form was lifted from behind by a pale, white arm that wrapped like an iron band around her waist and a hand clamped hard over her mouth. When the initial shock wore off, she struggled mightily as she was rapidly carried into a deserted bedroom. She tried to block the door being closed by jamming both her feet and hands against the door jamb, but she was no match for the strength of her assailant. As the door shut ominously behind her, the slave was tossed over a strong shoulder, her dress was shoved above her hips and several stinging smacks landed on her bare bottom before she was thrown to the floor. After the first sting passed, the slave jammed both her hands into her mouth to keep from crying out loud, hoping she would not be punished more for whatever it was that she had done. Although she was only 16, she had seen and heard enough stories of her people being beaten, hanged with chains or even worse for infractions they had committed against their masters. So she kept quiet and hoped her punishment would end soon. But she was mistaken.

As the afternoon wore on, the women in the upstairs bed continued to laugh together and make plans for their babies. Elizabeth Swan even confided to Esme that her husband, ever the Southern gentleman, had waited for a month to consummate their marriage, and how his brown eyes sparkled with tenderness every time he placed his hands on her growing belly and felt the child they created move beneath them. But the man she described wore no resemblance to the man locked with the little slave girl two doors down in her own private hell. Charlie Swan, law officer, pillar of the community, first time father and routine violator of young slave girls looked down with cold brown eyes at the girl trembling at his feet.

"If you make any noise, you will not leave this room alive," he said before jamming his member into her tiny mouth.

The next few hours were the most horrific of the little slave's life. Charlie Swan used her to slake his lust, riding her young body roughly like a stallion in heat, thrusting his member repeatedly into every orifice of her body that could receive it, He had recognized her inexperience and delighted in causing her pain as he forced himself into her body. When he was finally left her, bite marks covered her breasts, stomach, genitals and backside. Her breasts and nipples were tender and red. Dried body fluids, including blood, and mustache burns covered her thighs and legs. The pain between her legs and her bottom was enormous. Her life so far had not been easy. She was owned by someone else and had said goodbye to her family at a very young age. But she was born into slavery and knew what to expect. Unlike many of her people, she had a master and mistress who were generally kind and she even had dreams of a family of her own. But now it was not only her body that felt violated and crushed, but her spirit as well. She pulled on her clothes, but could not put on the contentment she had felt a few hours before. As she huddled into a ball and cried, she felt a tiny hand smoothing her hair.

"Why are you crying, Renée?"

She looked into the green eyed, copper haired little master she had raised from birth. She loved this boy as her own. But even this innocent child might someday grow up to be like the harsh man who had raped her.

When Renée fell pregnant, Esme's pregnancy hormones went into overdrive as her worse fears about Carlisle came into play. She vacillated between believing and disbelieving Renée's story and treating her accordingly. As for Renée, she hated the life growing within her. She no longer received looks of admiration; instead the rest of slaves on the plantation looked at her with derision or pity.

Soon after, Esme bore twins, a strong son named Emmett and a delicate daughter named Alice. Elizabeth gave birth to son named Jasper. Renée delivered a golden skinned baby girl with warm brown eyes and curling brown hair. She resembled her father, Charlie Swan. As Renée looked down at her daughter sleeping beside her, despite the events of the past few months, she was filled with a love so enormous that she felt her heart would jump right out of her body. Though her daughter did not resemble her much and was created in violence, she was still a part of her, the most beautiful part of her harsh life. Renée called her Bella.

When Esme looked at Bella and knew without a shadow of doubt she was not Carlisle's baby but Charlie Swan's, she thought about all around the of lighter skinned children routinely born in the Swan's plantation to the slave women, especially young girls. She could not stomach having such a monster in her house and cut off all contact with the Swans. Esme asked Carlisle to promise her that the only children he would ever father would be through her. She need not have worried. Carlisle had political aspirations for himself and more so for his oldest son. His own plantation Stone Acre was only a few miles from Monticello. He had heard the whispers that the great Thomas Jefferson himself had fathered children through a slave girl.

A short while later, Esme had a terrible accident that paralyzed her. The accident changed life in the Cullen household. Esme had nursed Edward unlike many women of her class who used their slaves as wet nurses. But now out of necessity, they had to use wet nurses, Renée became Emmett's wet nurse and another slave became Alice's. As Renée was also feeding Bella, Esme provided her food from her own table rather than what the slaves ate. Esme needed a lot of care since she was paralyzed. Since Emmett was a good eater and seemed perpetually latched onto Renée's breast and Esme needed care, Renée had to leave Bella unattended for long periods of time. Usually, an older slave would take care of a child like Bella, but since Edward was around the baby so much, Renée taught him to pick her up and hold her when she cried and could not be tandem fed with Emmett. Edward spent hours amusing Bella as she lay on the floor. He comforted her when she cried and even learned to rock her to sleep. It was Edward Bella's eyes followed around the room, Edward who received her first smile, who heard her first words and received her special laughter. Although he had siblings of his own, if Renée went about her duties carrying Bella on her back, Edward was always found trotting next to or around her.

Although the world in which she lived usually segregated a slave child like Bella from the children of the master, their world overlapped. For the first few years of her life, Bella was brought up only with the Cullen children. She even learned to read and write unlike most slaves. She did not even know that she was a slave as she was the only light skinned slave child on the plantation. But Renée was always aware that Bella's life was not that of the Cullen children and she knew that the faster Bella learned who she was, the better. She insisted that Bella call Edward, Emmett and Alice master or mistress even when playing with them. It amused Emmett and Alice, but Edward hated it.

It was as if Bella existed in two worlds. The world of the Cullens and the world of slaves. She was not allowed to eat with the Cullen children, but Carlisle even allowed her to have lessons with them which was unusual. She did not dress like them or have toys like them, but she played with them. She had to help around the house while they did not. Though Bella and the Cullen children grew up together, it was Edward and Bella who shared a special bond. Emmett was a very athletic child and Alice loved to play for hours with her dolls. But Edward loved to learn and when he was ten years old, Carlisle appointed a personal tutor for him. Edward quickly learned Latin, Greek and French. Since Edward liked to learn by teaching, he passed on what he did so to his willing pupil, six year old Bella. Edward loved history, politics and oration. He would spend hours practicing his speech, his only audience Bella. There were political gatherings or dinners every week. Carlisle would carry Esme down and sit her in a chair as he wanted her to participate. Esme would sit like a queen while Carlisle held court. Every year a ball would be held on their anniversary and Carlisle would carry Esme and dance around with her before opening the dance floor. Carlisle's devotion to his paralyzed wife was envied by every woman in the county. Every night after dinner while Carlisle worked, he had his wife sit with him. As he promised, Carlisle had no children other than the three children he shared with Esme. As the years went by, Carlisle's political power grew. He was even elected to Congress. But he had even bigger aspirations for his oldest son, including the presidency of the young republic.

Edward idolized his father. He wanted to emulate him in everything. And Bella idolized Edward. Though Renée tried to shield Bella from most of the horror suffered by other negro children her age, she decided that Bella needed to see that her future would not include lessons or ballroom dancing and what a slave master was actually like. So she took her to the dungeons. Like many of his contemporaries, Carlisle beat his slaves to punish them, especially when they tried to escape. Carlisle was ruthless if his slaves were unlucky enough to be caught. He hanged them with chains and starved them. For the first time in her life, Bella saw people who looked like her mother. Their eyes lifeless, their backs scarred, dried blood all over them, lying in their own waste. The stench was unbearable. A shocked and crying Bella nearly vomited and ran out into the sunlight. To impress her future upon her, Renée told Bella that her beloved Edward would one day become a slave master and that he would do the same things.

Bella became terrified of Edward. Using that, Renée moved Bella into the slave quarters instead of the main house they lived in. For three days, Edward looked for Bella until he ordered Renée in his most grown up master's voice to bring Bella back. As the rest of the Cullen children also missed Bella and the little girl was also miserable, Renée had to bring her back to the main house. Since Esme could not take care of the household, Renée had free reign in its management. She decided that Bella needed to start living in the world she was born into rather than flitting between the two worlds. Renée stopped Bella's lessons with the Cullen children and made her work in the house. The only time Bella was out of her sight was for two hours after dinner. Even then Renée made sure Bella was in bed before she went to finish her chores for the day.

But Bella would sneak out of bed and knock on the French doors of Edward's balcony. Once inside his room, Edward would tutor her in languages or history, read books by Shakespeare, Homer, or Newton depending on his interest. They talked about their dreams. Edward wanted to travel and see the world, Bella wanted her own family. Edward loved to dance, so he and Bella would occasionally dance around the ballroom, her long hair twirling like a veil around her.

When Edward was 12, Carlisle sent him to a boarding school where he could be prepared for college and law. It would be months before he came home to Stone Acre. Even during those brief visits home, the person he talked to the most, spent the most time with was Bella. Edward always kept journals and wrote vividly about his experiences. On the rare occasions when he did come home, Edward would let no one but Bella read them. But as the years went by, Edward made new friends, traveled all over the world and finally it became several years since his last return to Stone Acre,

After Edward left, Bella stopped flitting between two worlds believing that Edward had forgotten her. No more reading, language, music or dancing. Instead, to Renée's relief, she embraced her life as a slave. She even moved into the slave quarters and occasionally worked in the fields. Her soft hands became leathery, her brown hair lightened and her fair skin took on a golden hue. She was a beautiful young woman with curly brown hair, deep chocolate eyes and a figure honed by years of hard work. She completely transitioned into the life of a slave.

Bella was sixteen when news came that Edward was coming home at last. Everyone on the plantation, including the slaves, buzzed with activity for days. When the carriage finally turned into the drive, Edward saw a host of beloved faces gathered outside. Emmett, Alice, Esme, wearing a smile, a proud Carlisle, even a rarely smiling Renée. Edward looked for Bella, but he could not see her. After the euphoria of his arrival subsided, Edward went to his room and unconsciously waited for the knock that he was sure would come on his French doors. But Bella never came. Edward could not understand. Surely she had thought about him over the years. Wasn't she curious to see him? He certainly wanted to see her. He wondered what had happened to the little girl who had picked up languages so easily, who had listened to him, who risked her mother's wrath to spend time with him. He longed to discuss all his experiences with her. The last thing he expected was to see Bella as she had become.

Carlisle held a ball to celebrate his son's return after all these years. The politically influential and families with eligible daughters were invited. Bella helped set up for the ball, but she was, of course, not invited. On the day of the ball, carriages lined the drive. The men were dressed formally and the ladies wore satin and silk, their coiffures elaborate. Bella herself had helped Miss Alice and many of Alice's friends dress for the ball. The ball began with Carlisle dancing with Esme in his arms before the floor was opened. There was a hush as the assembled throng waited to see who Edward chose for his first dance. Edward approached the most beautiful girl in the room, bowed before her and held out his gloved hand. As he twirled around the floor with Rosalie Hale under a magnificent chandelier that blazed with a light of hundreds of candles, all the women sighed at what a beautiful couple they made. She matched him in height, beauty and grace. Her fortune and family matched his own. They seemed made for each other. While Carlisle and Esme looked on proudly, Bella watched sadly from a place hidden above the ballroom, remembering a copper haired boy who had once danced with her in his arms. She had loved him her whole life, but looking at him now hurt her so much because now the only place for her in his life would be in the shadows, never in the light.

Edward had breakfast with Esme every morning. Usually it was Renée who saw to Esme's needs, but one day, she became sick and Bella reluctantly stepped into her shoes as a house slave. She had avoided Edward for a while by being a field slave and not coming into the house. But now, as Bella carried in the tray she felt her heart thumping. She was finally going to meet him face to face, though she did not want to. She was dressed in a modest dress made of rough cloth, an apron, and a cap covering her glorious hair and her appearance made her self conscious. When he first saw her, stunned emerald eyes met embarrassed chocolate eyes. Edward had seen many women from different countries and continents, of different colors, from noble women dressed in silks, satins, and the finest linen to their maids dressed in ordinary cloth. But when he saw Bella, Edward felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

After that morning, Bella felt like Edward was stalking her. For days, he seemed to be everywhere she went, though if she could she walked the other way. When she had served him and Esme breakfast, Edward tried to make eye contact, but she would not look at him. When he tried to help her clear the table, she said, "Thank you Master." Though Bella was a slave and addressed Alice and Emmett as mistress and master, she would laugh with them and was playful. When Edward came into the room she immediately became silent. The final straw for Edward came when he saw Bella squeal, not in fright as he had assumed, but in laughter as Emmett dunked her in a fountain.

With her wet clothes plastered around her and a smile on her face, Bella went to change when pale hands grabbed her from behind. She immediately began to struggle as the horror of her mother's story of rape played in her mind. As she was hefted over a strong shoulder, a flash of bronze broke her heart. How could he of all people do this to her? As she was carried up the stairs, she resolved that unlike her mother she would offer up her body to him before he could take it from her and she went limp in surrender. Edward shut the door of his room behind them and slowly put Bella down.

She tore the buttons from the front of her dress and exposed her breasts to him.

"Is this what you want Master? Take it. I give it to you."

He looked at her like she had slapped him. He walked to his desk unbuttoning his coat as went. He removed some books from hiding and turned at her with blazing eyes.

"I brought you here to show you something. You may not have missed me or thought about me, but I did. Every day. Your face was the only one I wanted to see the day I came home. I even waited for you to knock on my door. But you ran away from me. You of all people should know I would never lay a hand on you. Now cover yourself up."

He dropped the pile of books and his coat at her feet and stormed out.

Bella held his coat to her face and smelled him, her eyes filling with tears. She put on his coat and started reading his journals. Edward had written his impressions of the places he had visited all over the world as if he was holding conversations with her and she was standing next to him. Her name was mentioned over and over again, no matter where Edward had visited: London, Paris, Rome, Greece, and China. Bella saw all of those places through his eyes and sobbed at how she had hurt and misjudged him. As she snuggled into Edward's coat, she felt like he was hugging her. She knew she had no future with him, but if he wanted her, could she keep away from him?

As for Edward, he was hurt beyond measure. He had stormed from the house and taken his horse for a ride. He had seen the terror in Bella's eyes when he had carried her, but she had laughed when Emmett dunked her in the fountain. How could she think he would hurt her? She was the one person he thought knew him better than any other. Had the years really changed them that much? He had always known she was a slave, but she had always been his Bella.

That night as Edward prepared for bed, he was startled by a familiar knock on the French door. Not trusting what he heard, he peered through the glass and found a demure Bella standing on the other side. Wordlessly he opened the door to let her in. She did not come in or say anything. She handed him some books and quietly walked away.

Unlike those of European descent who cataloged their history and experiences, it was customary for slaves who were not able to read or write to have only oral traditions. Because Bella could read and write, she had written down her own experiences: how she spent her time from sunup to sundown working long hours in the fields; planting, tending and picking cotton, rice, tobacco, or sugarcane as the seasons needed. She wrote of how her hands and feet turned leathery, her longing for freedom, how her own life was not her own and of Edward, of all people, owning her. She had written of her dreams of a family, how her people only jumped the broom and did not have a proper marriage ceremony. And she had addressed it all to Edward. Though he knew he would one day inherit Stone Acre, he had never realized how owning a human being with real feelings would be different from owning a horse. Even if he was the best master, he would still own people. People like Bella who were capable of so much more and had dreams of their own, but lived a miserable life because of the color of their skin.

The next day when he had breakfast with Esme, Edward did not look at Bella. But when he helped her clear the table, she smiled at him. Things changed between Bella and Edward after that, but only in private. In public they were still master and slave, but by unspoken agreement she would occasionally knock on his door. They talked about the places he had seen, the things that happened to her, politics, books and so much more. Though she presented a demure image to the world, with Edward, Bella was opinionated. She argued and smiled. The more Edward saw of her true self, the more he fell in love. He had always loved an image of her. But her true self was salt, spice, sweet and tart. And though he longed to touch, taste, smell and kiss her, he never did. What future could he offer her? She never even called him by name.

As for Bella, she had a dilemma which no one but Carlisle knew. A freeman was offering to marry her. He would first have to buy her from her master, but she would be free and so would her children. They would have their father's name and live in the free north. The decision whether she would be sold or not would not be up to her, but her master. Since Bella was born in StoneAcre, she belonged to Carlisle and Esme. But they had transferred the ownership of Bella and several other slaves to Edward as a birthday present. Finally, Carlisle spoke with Edward regarding Jacob's offer to buy Bella since she now belonged to him. It was the eve of Edward's birthday and he knew that Bella would come knocking.

Bella came late that evening. When she did it looked like she had been crying.

"I want to talk to you about Jacob, Bella," he said without preamble over a lump in his throat. "I want you to know I have decided to accept his offer for you."

There was a long pause while he waited for her reaction.

"Jacob has withdrawn the offer master," she said in a small voice, her head down.

"If the price was too high, he should have negotiated with me," Edward said angrily. "You are priceless, Bella. I want you to be free. I am setting you free on my birthday. Tomorrow you go free."

"But what if I don't want to be free?" she asked hesitantly.

"You're just saying that because you're afraid of what's out there. Your mother will not be free and you will miss her. Perhaps you will miss Alice and Emmett too. But think about your future, your children. They will be born free."

She took a deep breath, lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye.

"Jacob is a good man who loves me and will try to make me happy. I know what would happen to children born to a slave like me, master. I was born a slave, but I choose to stay one and live in Stone Acre over freedom and never seeing you again. I know you have to marry and it cannot be me. But the only man I've ever wanted is you."

She finished her speech and hung her head waiting nervously. She had laid out her heart to him. What if he rejected her?

The impact of Bella's words hit him as he stood rooted to the spot. He could not believe that someone would choose him over freedom. She loved him despite who he was. He closed his eyes and let that feeling wash over him. As a slave owner he owned her labor, her body, even her life. But only now did he truly own her as he owned her heart. But still there was that one step. He wanted his Bella, hidden inside the slave girl.

"You know my name, Bella. If you want me, say it, out loud."

"I want you, Edward," she said in a voice that trembled with longing.

At the sound of his name, something broke inside him. With a few large steps he bridged the gap between them and lifted her high in his arms. He kissed her long and deep, their tongues dancing in duel. The passion that had been held back between them raged like a forest fire. They tore their clothes, lay on the bed and gazed at each other. Edward was afraid to touch her, she was so beautiful. From her brown hair spread like a fan around her, to her shy chocolate eyes and her plump pink lips, she looked like a painting come to life. Her golden breasts with their darker nipples stiff with arousal begged to be touched. He caressed them reverently, then with passion, kneaded them, kissed, laved, licked and sucked them like a starving man. Bella squirmed under his hands and lips and the place between her legs became moist, her insides throbbing like something wanted to leap out of her. He kissed down her golden body, her stomach, her navel, down her legs, the back of her knees and even her feet. When she felt like she was going to burst, Edward finally dipped his head at the junction of her legs and tasted her.

As he finally tasted her, her flavor was imprinted on Edward like nothing he had tasted before. She tasted like her true personality: tart, sweet, spice and salt. He sucked and tasted her until she flowed for him. When she was finally ready, he plunged deep inside her. She fit him like a glove, like she was made for him. Slowly they started moving to the ancient rhythm of a man and his mate, two bodies becoming one. When the explosion finally came, it shattered her. She sobbed his name over and over again, which acted as a balm for all the times she had called him master. He followed her soon after, collapsing on her. For a long time, they lay entwined, kissing, cuddling, touching. No words were necessary. It was the best birthday present of his life. After a long time she stirred to leave. But he would not let her go. He rolled her on top of him so his member was cradled by her core, adjusting her so her face was level with his.

"I love you. You know that don't you? I always have and always will. I am yours, body, mind and heart. I may not be able to walk beside you or acknowledge you, but you are in my heart always."

Bella nodded and buried her face against his shoulder.

Bella and Edward lived for the night. During the day they behaved like master and slave. But during the night, they would show each other through touch, taste, and words how much they missed and meant to each other. But every day Bella had to leave before the house stirred or Renée woke up and Edward always woke up alone.

Edward was tormented. He hated that the woman he loved called him master, that he could never wake up with her in his arms, or slide into her as the sun was rising. Bella was smart and capable. Her mind matched his, her body was created for him, her love filled him like no other, but she could never stand beside him, never be acknowledged and the life he lived with her would always be in the shadows. All because of the color of her skin.

But Edward also had obligations. He had a heritage that his family demanded he take part in. Carlisle had dreamed of a future for him. He had been trained for that. Edward had lived away from his family for so many years so he could do something with his life. Could he use his abilities and change things for people like Bella? Even try for the highest office in the land? But that would mean he needed a wife, but not the wife he wanted. Someone else, someone he would not and could not love. And what about his children? Would his children through Bella know how much he loved their mother? Would they know that they were created in love and not in violence like Bella? Could he have them knowing he could never acknowledge them, that they would never have his name and would be slaves like their mother? The weight of his decisions and expectations on him crushed Edward and the only solace he ever found was in Bella's arms.

Carlisle began talking to Edward about running for office and taking a wife. He suggested beautiful women from good families who would run his home, be supportive of him, be a good mother to his children, all the things Esme was for Carlisle. He even gave Edward his own mother's ring to give to his bride when the time came. He had Edward meet all the important political personages in the state and their families. Everyone who met Edward was impressed. He was well spoken, well traveled, and well educated, with very good ideas, and it did not hurt that their wives and daughters thought he looked like a walking god.

Soon it was the time for Carlisle's and Esme's annual wedding anniversary ball. Preparations went on for days. It was an open secret that Edward would announce his intention to enter politics that night. There were whispers that he would also choose his bride. There were even rumors that the first girl he would dance with would be his future wife. It seemed like the entire state was invited, even the long estranged Swan family. Bella had never seen Charlie, his wife or any of her half siblings and she was curious about them. Bella dreaded the day of the ball when she would put a face to the nameless woman who would share Edward with her, the one who the world would know and acknowledge, who would walk beside him wearing his ring, who would share his life with him, whose children would have his name- the woman so unlike herself who would share a life with Edward, including children, but only in secret and shame. All because of the color of her skin. It did not seem fair. Sometimes Bella wished she had never been born, but not knowing or loving Edward was not an option. She would walk behind him, in chains, always in the shadows. Bella loved Edward more than freedom, more than life itself.

The night before the ball, the house was filled with guests. Bella waited for the house to quiet down before going to Edward's room. She had almost reached his door when the soft sigh of a woman broke the quiet of the night. Bella peered through the shadows to see who it was and recognized the blonde hair of Miss Rosalie Hale. Was it her that Edward had chosen? She crept closer. As she watched, she saw a flash of a pink tipped white before it was swallowed whole by large mouth. Bella silently laughed. Rosalie Hale would suit Emmett very well indeed.

As Bella watched Emmett and Rosalie, Edward watched her from behind the door. He had seen her stop in surprise, the sudden sadness in her eyes as she thought it was him with Rosalie. He noticed how she unconsciously folded her hands protectively over her stomach. In the short time they had been together, Edward knew Bella's body better than his own. Every curve, every mole, and every freckle he knew by heart. He had noticed how her breasts had become heavier, and how her once flat stomach swelled slightly. He knew what was happening. He waited for Bella to tell him, but even now she kept it from him, wanting him to choose a bride with a clear head and not think about her.

Love for Bella filled his heart. He softly walked towards her and without startling her, picked her up as if she was a new bride. He carried her into his room and set her on her feet. He undressed her tenderly and kneeling before her, he paid homage with lips, tongue and teeth to every part that he uncovered of his golden goddess. Bella could hardly stand with the pleasure he lavished upon her. Finally, he swung one leg over his should and cupped her bottom, bringing her core to his face. He settled in to feast. Bella could only hold on to his hair for support as the feeling between her legs started to swell and she came like a torrent. He stood and picked her up, wrapping her legs around him hips. He carried her to his bed and laid her down before burying himself inside her. He rocked them back and forth until the final, magnificent explosion.

As she lay on top of him, he took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

"Will you stay with me tonight? I need you." Overcome, Bella only nodded.

"Do you trust me, Bella?" She nodded again. "I do not know what I am going to do or say tomorrow. But I know I want a family with you. I dream of the day I can watch my child grow within you. Will you trust me to do what I have to for us and our family?"

She kissed him to show her assent. Whatever tomorrow brought, they would face it together.

He rolled her onto her side and spooned her, holding her close, entwining their hands. As he watched his pale hand holding her darker one, he prayed that he would have the strength to do what must be done. And handle the aftermath that was sure to follow.

The next day dawned bright and early. Around noon, the ladies started dressing. Bella helped a few of the young ladies, listening to them gossip about who Edward would choose, the future he would have and how lucky the woman was. Downstairs in his study, Carlisle paced nervously. Edward had still not made his choice.

The guests staying at the house filled the ballroom as the others began to arrive. It was exquisitely decorated with flowers, greenery and rich fabrics. Under the light of the huge chandelier, the jewels encircling throats, wrists and ears glittered beautifully. Music and laughter filled the air. Edward stood next to his parents, arrayed in all black, his neck cloth and gloves pristine white, receiving guests. His bronze hair was tamed down as much as possible. As the influential guests spoke to Edward, each young woman in the room wished she was the one he would choose. He had beauty, money and power. The world was at his feet.

Per tradition, Carlisle took Esme in his arms and danced her around the room, then he gave the floor to Edward who walked forward to stand under the magnificent chandelier in the middle of the room. There was a sudden hush as everyone waited with baited breath for his announcement. Edward took a deep breath and began.

"Today as I stand before you, I see a future ahead of me full of promise. Some of you have even told me I could go all the way to the top. For the confidence you place in me, I thank you. Some of you have hinted that you would be honored to have me as part of your family, as your son. For that, I am humbled."

He then recited a portion from the book of Proverbs in the Bible:

"_A wife of noble character who can find?_

_She is worth far more than rubies._

_Her husband has full confidence in her_

_and lacks nothing of value._

_She brings him good, not harm,_

_all the days of her life._"

He paused and looked around the room, at the hopeful faces around him, pausing to gather his thoughts at the moment before his life changed. He began the hardest speech of his life by looking only at his parents.

"I need a wife who will love me through everything, the good and bad like my parents have. Who will be a good mother to my children, like my own mother. The woman that I have chosen is capable of all that. She was willing to give up everything, even her freedom to be with me. The world says I own her. The age I live in will not allow her to stand beside me. Her children through me will not bear my name and would be slaves because she is one. I have a choice. The world will not say anything if I hide her and marry another. But I cannot and will not. I love her with all my heart. I can imagine no other to be my wife or share my life. So I have chosen to leave my life and be with her."

An enormous silence greeted him when he finished. Then the door of the ballroom opened and Bella walked in. She was dressed in her simple clothes and though she heard the scornful whispers and was aware of the startled and angry expressions, she held her head high and looked only at Edward. She stared into his emerald eyes that held so much love that all the fine jewels in the room paled before them.

He held out his hand with a smile and bowed. She placed her care worn hands in his and hand in hand they walked out the room.

_**Epilogue**_

In a modest house just outside of Paris, France, a pale white man with a messy copper hair shot with gray rolled onto his stomach and looked down on his wife of twenty years sleeping next to him.

He saw a beautiful woman, her curly brown hair now threaded with gray, spread around her face. Her beautiful golden breasts with their dusky nipples were no longer firm, but sagged slightly after nourishing all their children. Her belly was full with another child that they had created and further down a tuft of brown hair hid her womanhood, through which each of their children had entered this earth, in his eyes. Each of those children bore his name. Their ten living children spanned the gamut from light to olive skinned, from fair haired to the darkest black with a redhead thrown in for good measure, with eyes of green, blue, gold and black. As for the two that had not survived, they were buried in the family garden under tombstones that bore the names of their parents.

Edward looked down at the woman who loved him so much that she was willing to sacrifice her own freedom and that of her children to be with him. His life over the past twenty years had been simple and he did not have the wealth or power that could have been his. But he did not regret his decision to walk away from a heritage that had no place for her at his side simply because of the color of her skin.

Bella was no longer a slave and against all odds they were able to petition the French legal system for marriage. It was approved. The one drop rule that prevented them from marrying in America was reversed in France. Because Bella had at least a drop of Caucasian ancestry, they were allowed to marry, though if she had been entirely Negro that would not have been possible.

Edward woke her by tenderly kissing both her eyelids, her nose, then long and hard on her lips. He kneaded her breasts, kissed and caressed them until she moaned in pleasure. He kissed his way down her golden body, over the mound that held their unborn child, until he reached apex of her legs. He gently parted them and dipped his tongue into her to sample the honey taste that had enthralled him for twenty years, lavishing her with pleasure while Bella took the member that had been buried deep within her so any times, that had filled her womb with his life giving seed, given her so much pleasure over the years in her mouth and licked, sucked and swallowed until both were satisfied.

As the early morning light filtered through the curtains, Edward drew his sleepy Bella once more into his arms. As he watched his pale hand entwined with her darker one, he was grateful that they were one of the lucky few that had been able to marry and have a family against all odds. As he drifted back to sleep, he prayed the same prayer he had for twenty years: that though it may take years, maybe even centuries, someday a courageous man would free all the slaves in the land of his birth. He prayed for an age where another Edward would be able to marry his own Bella without petitioning the courts, without leaving their country, no matter the color of their skin, from the palest white to the darkest black. That the only thing that would matter was not the color of the skin, but the language of a heart that loved. For the color of love was the same, no matter the color of the skin.


End file.
